Control the Controllables

In today´s episode we speak to GB´s Ryan Peniston.

Ryan has had his breakthrough year on the ATP Tour reaching a career high of 123, with wins over top 50 players Casper Rudd, Holger Rune and Francisco Cerundolo. He had an amazing run during the grass court season reaching the quarter-finals at Nottingham, Queen's and Eastbourne, and the 2nd round of Wimbledon on his debut at SW19.

Ryan was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 1, spending months in hospital undergoing surgery and chemotherapy. He tells us about how this has shaped the person he is today, and talks us through his career and goals for the next year. 

Ryan´s story is a great example of perseverance and hard work, a great listen for young players!

Today is also International Podcast Day and we want to take this opportunity to thank you for listening to the show. We love making this podcast and we hope you´re enjoying it and learning as much from it as we are! 

We would love to know who your favourite guests have been, or who you would like to hear from next! Email us at [email protected] or reach out to us on Instagram!

Links Mentioned in this Episode:-

• Control the Controllables: Website | Instagram | Email
• SotoTennis Academy: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
• Episode 175: Roger Federer Retirement Special
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Mentioned in this episode:

Train Smarter Anywhere: Strength & Conditioning for Tennis Players On the Go 🎾

For players who don’t always have access to in-person coaching, progress doesn’t have to stop.

TennisAthlete

Roger Federer will play the final match of his incredible career today at the Laver Cup in London.

The 20 time Grand Slam Champion and former World number 1 will team up with his greatest rival Rafael Nadal in the doubles, as Europe take on the rest of the word at the 02 arena.

To mark his final farewell to tennis, we´ve brought together these brilliant guests to share their tributes and stories and let us know what Roger is really like behind the scenes...

🎾 Former Belgian Pro Player Xavier Malisse

🎾 WTA Coach and STA Performance Director Carl Maes

🎾 British Pro Player Liam Broady

🎾  Pakistani Pro Player Aisam Qureshi

🎾  Journalist Neil Harman

🎾 GB Coach and Roger Federer super fan, Mark Hayden

🎾 Ukraine´s Sergiy Stakhovsky who beat Federer in the 2nd Round of Wimbledon in 2013.

Our guests take a trip down memory lane and delve into the spectacular career of Roger Federer, discussing how he has been an inspiration to millions of fans all across the world 🌍 and how he will go down as one of the greatest of all time! 🐐

Packed full of stories about Roger from on and off the court, this is an episode you don't want to miss!

Connect

• Control the Controllables: Website | Instagram | Email
• SotoTennis Academy: Website | Instagram | Facebook
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What an amazing two weeks at Flushing Meadows for the 2022 US Open!

We have two new US Open Champions, a new world number 1, and we said good bye to the GOAT of the women´s game, Serena Williams. So much to discuss with our panelists, from the old to the new and story lines aplenty in between.

Returning to our panel is US pro player and New York native Noah Rubin and Denmark´s Davis Cup Captain Freddie Nielsen, a Control the Controllables regular.

We look into many topics including:-

• Has the game evolved and changed once again? 
• How do these athletes continue to push the boundaries?
• Is this really the last we will see of Serena?
• The late finishes, why? Is this beneficial to tennis?
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And so much more! 

Enjoy...

Connect with Us

• Control the Controllables: Website | Instagram | Email
• Follow Noah Rubin on Twitter
• Listen´s to Noah´s podcast Behind the Racquet
• Follow Freddie Nielsen on Twitter
• SotoTennis Academy: Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
• 
  

Mentioned in this episode:

Train Smarter Anywhere: Strength & Conditioning for Tennis Players On the Go 🎾

For players who don’t always have access to in-person coaching, progress doesn’t have to stop.

TennisAthlete

What an exciting US Open it´s been! As it draws to an end, we´ve taken the chance to speak to former England cricketer Monty Panesar about the trials and tribulations of professional sport. 

As you´ll hear, there´s many similarities between professional cricket and tennis. 

Monty tells us about his own mental health battles during his career, and the importance of sport specific fitness training. He shares stories from Ashes winning moments and what it felt like bowling out some of the greats. He also talks about his life after cricket.... will he be the next Graham Norton?

Enjoy the episode and look out for our US Open Review coming next week!

Connect

• Control the Controllables: Website | Instagram | Email
• Follow Monty Panesar on Twitter
• Listen to Monty´s Podcast Monty Meets
• SotoTennis Academy 
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As the final Grand Slam of 2022 gets started, we bring together our amazing panelists to discuss all things US Open.

We are joined for the first time on our Grand Slam panel by native New Yorker and ATP Player Noah Rubin who is alongside Mark Hilton, current coach to Sir Andy Murray and ever present former Wimbledon Men´s Doubles Champion and current Danish Davis Cup Captain, Freddie Nielsen.

The panelists share personal stories, insights into life at the US Open and their predictions for the up and coming event from story lines to watch out for to players to watch out for. Could we have another Emma Raducanu moment? Will Serena go out the high she deserves? 

And finally, our panelists pick their winners for the Women´s and Men´s Singles Events. 

Do you agree? 

Send us your picks by tagging in @ctc.podcast on Instagram or @sototennis on all social media platforms. We will share the best picks!

Mentioned in this episode:

Train Smarter Anywhere: Strength & Conditioning for Tennis Players On the Go 🎾

For players who don’t always have access to in-person coaching, progress doesn’t have to stop.

TennisAthlete

Ken Skupski is one of GB´s most successful doubles players. 

After a career spanning 3 decades, he recently retired from pro tennis playing his last match in the Mens Doubles at Wimbledon. 

In today´s episode, Ken talks through his career in numbers and in words. From his success in Juniors, to his US College days at Louisiana State University, through to his 18 years on the pro tour,  he shares his honest learnings, his memories and the challenges of the past 20+ years including:- 

• GB´s Davis Cup Final win in 2015, including that winning moment.
• Reaching a career high doubles ranking of ATP 44, three times!
• The challenge of choosing the right doubles partner and when to move on.
• The pride he felt living out a family ambition as he partnered brother Neal to many successes.
• Life after pro tennis, including the Skupski Doubles Academy.
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Control the Controllables: Website | Instagram | Email

Find out more about the Skupski Doubles Academy

Mentioned in this episode:

Train Smarter Anywhere: Strength & Conditioning for Tennis Players On the Go 🎾

For players who don’t always have access to in-person coaching, progress doesn’t have to stop.

TennisAthlete

In today´s episode we speak to ATP Coach and former pro player Neville Godwin.

Neville reached a career high of 90 in the world in singles and 57 in doubles during his career, and won the US Open Boys Doubles as a junior in 1993.

After retiring he became a coach, helping fellow South African Kevin Anderson to a world top 10 ranking and the US Open final in 2017. Neville won ATP Coach of the Year that same year.

After he split with Anderson, he worked with Hyeon Chung who became the first South Korean player to reach the semis of a Grand Slam in Melbourne in 2018. Neville has mostly recently worked with Reilly Opelka.

A great listen!

Episode Highlights:-

• Neville reflects on his playing career and what has changed/is still the same on the tour.
• Why he thinks going to US College could have given his career more longevity.
• He gives us an insight into Reilly Opelka´s training and why he thinks he will definitely be a top 10 player.
• Why he thinks the new ATP/WTA Coaching rule will be huge for Coaches.
• If you´re a lefty, you might want to listen out for his rule change suggestion in the Quick Fire Round!
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Connect with us: Instagram | Website | Email

Mentioned in this episode:

Train Smarter Anywhere: Strength & Conditioning for Tennis Players On the Go 🎾

For players who don’t always have access to in-person coaching, progress doesn’t have to stop.

TennisAthlete

Wimbledon 2022 was another fantastic event, full of stories and stand out performances. After all the pre-event hype around the ban of Russian and Belarusian players and no ATP/WTA points, the tennis did the talking at SW19.

In today´s episode we are joined by some of the players behind those stories, as well as two of our regular Grand Slam panelists:-

• Mixed Doubles Champions Desirae Krawczyk from the USA and GB´s Neal Skupski tell us about winning their 2nd Wimbledon title in a row together. Find out if they plan to team up again next year!
• GB´s Lissey Barnett made the mixed doubles QF with Jonny O´Mara, beating Venus Williams and Jamie Murray in arguably the most dramatic tie-break of the Championships! Lissey shares her reflections of the match with us.
• Kieron Vorster, the current fitness coach of Liam Broady who had a breakthrough move to the 3rd round with a win over Diego Schwartzmann, and former Wimbledon mens doubles champion Freddie Nielsen complete our panel!
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Listen out for our special guest, Paul Jubb who also jumps on to share his thoughts on playing the enigmatic Nick Kygrios in round 1. Jubb came close to beating the eventual finalist, losing 7-5 in the 5th set.

An episode full of laughs, surprises, exclusives and a shared love of our beautiful game at the greatest event on the planet!

Control the Controllables: Website | Instagram | Email

SotoTennis Academy: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Mentioned in this episode:

Train Smarter Anywhere: Strength & Conditioning for Tennis Players On the Go 🎾

For players who don’t always have access to in-person coaching, progress doesn’t have to stop.

TennisAthlete

Ross Hutchins is a former top 30 doubles player and the Chief Player Officer at the ATP. 

He comes from a strong British tennis stock, as the son of Paul Hutchins, former GB Davis Cup captain and British tennis great.

Ross won 5 ATP doubles titles during his pro career, reaching 13 ATP Tour doubles finals, and representing Great Britain several times in the Davis Cup.

He was ranked 28 in the world in doubles in 2012 when he made the shock announcement that he´d been diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma.  He made a full recovery before returning to pro tennis for a short time in 2014.

After retiring from the game, Ross served as Tournament Director for the Aegon Championships at The Queen´s Club, before moving to work at the ATP.

In today´s episode Ross talks to Control the Controllables about his junior and pro career, how Andy Murray supported him through his battle with cancer, his work at the ATP and more!

Connect

• Control the Controllables: Website | Instagram | Email
• Ross Hutchins on Twitter 
• SotoTennis Academy 
• ATP Tour
• 
  

Mentioned in this episode:

Train Smarter Anywhere: Strength & Conditioning for Tennis Players On the Go 🎾

For players who don’t always have access to in-person coaching, progress doesn’t have to stop.

TennisAthlete

It´s our favourite time of the year, and Wimbledon 2022 has kicked off with a bang! 9 Brits are already through to Round 2, the most since 1997.

This year there are more than 60 former and current US College players in the main draw at SW19! In today´s episode we are getting to know 5 GB players who are making their Wimbledon debuts after successful US/UK university careers.

Joining CTC Host Dan Kiernan on this years Wimbledon Preview Panel are:-

• Julian Cash reached number 1 doubles in the nation while at Oklahoma State University. He´s just won the 2022 Surbiton Trophy and the  Ilkley Trophy with partner Henry Patten
• Henry Patten was also ranked number 1 in the nation in doubles during his time at UNC Ashville. After picking up 2 titles this month with Cash, he now has a career high ranking of 156 ATP in doubles.
• Alicia Barnett has just broken into the top 100 doubles WTA. She was on the women´s team at North-Western in Chicago, before winning 13 ITF titles and reaching the final of the Lyon Open womens doubles in her WTA debut with Olivia Nicholls. 
• Olivia Nicholls graduated from Loughborough University and currently has a WTA doubles ranking of 104. She has won 15 ITF Doubles titles.
• Nell Miller is still on the womens tennis team at NC State. After claiming the NCAA doubles title last month, she was awarded a wild-card into the womens doubles with fellow Brit Sonay Kartal.
• Sarah Borwell is former GB British Doubles number 1 and founder of US college placement company Tennis Smart.
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There´s so much to talk about in this episode! Hear how their college careers have helped them reach the Wimbledon main draw. How do they feel about not receiving any points? Find out what Wimbledon tips Sarah and Dan have for them and listen to all the panelist have their Wimbledon knowledge put to the test in the Quickfire Round!

A fun listen!

Read full shownotes here.

Enjoying hearing more about our British players? Don´t miss our chat with GB´s Jack Draper here.